(1) strikes me as not just normal but inevitable. Some form of "How are you doing?" is bound to crop up. I don't generally mind.
If we are having a pleasant exchange of small talk, (2) is a reasonable follow-up to (1). If I am not responding as if I wish to continue to the conversation, then (2) is intrusive. It is also one of the questions which I may not wish to answer having nothing to do with courtesy and everything to do with whether it feels safe to share that information.
I can imagine contexts in which (3) and (4) are neutral questions, say, if both parties are talking about their family histories, but I have spent my entire life being told that I don't sound—sometimes that I don't even look—as though I was born in the city/country I was born in, which makes it very difficult for me not to interpret questions about my origins as some kind of microaggression.
(5) is actual talk, not small talk, so if total strangers have just been sort of breezing up and asking you, what the hell, total strangers! If a person volunteers information about their partnership status in the course of small talk, great! It's an appropriate topic of conversation! Otherwise, none of your business!
I also have to say, if your PT is the kind that involves counting repetitions of an exercise, small talk is just a terrible idea.
no subject
(1) strikes me as not just normal but inevitable. Some form of "How are you doing?" is bound to crop up. I don't generally mind.
If we are having a pleasant exchange of small talk, (2) is a reasonable follow-up to (1). If I am not responding as if I wish to continue to the conversation, then (2) is intrusive. It is also one of the questions which I may not wish to answer having nothing to do with courtesy and everything to do with whether it feels safe to share that information.
I can imagine contexts in which (3) and (4) are neutral questions, say, if both parties are talking about their family histories, but I have spent my entire life being told that I don't sound—sometimes that I don't even look—as though I was born in the city/country I was born in, which makes it very difficult for me not to interpret questions about my origins as some kind of microaggression.
(5) is actual talk, not small talk, so if total strangers have just been sort of breezing up and asking you, what the hell, total strangers! If a person volunteers information about their partnership status in the course of small talk, great! It's an appropriate topic of conversation! Otherwise, none of your business!
I also have to say, if your PT is the kind that involves counting repetitions of an exercise, small talk is just a terrible idea.